Russel
Masculine · “little red one”
Russel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 16,610 boys against 12 girls since 1880.
Russel is a little red one. The Norman French rous meant red — of hair or complexion — and the diminutive made it a byname, which became one of the great British surnames.
How old is the name Russel?
Russel was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Russel alive today was born around 1943, making them about 82 years old. About 7,100 people named Russel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Russel most popular?
Russel peaked in 1913, reaching #282 nationally. Today it ranks #3949, 3,667 places below that high. See the whole 1913 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From russus to Russel
The story of Russel
Rousel came to England with the Normans as a byname and became the surname Russell, borne by the Dukes of Bedford and by a long line of British public figures. Like most great surnames it crossed into given-name use in the nineteenth century, and American families took it up in quantity. The single-l spelling Russel appears alongside the standard one and peaked around 1918.
Meaning
little red one, red-haired
From the Norman French rousel, a diminutive of rous, 'red', from the Latin russus. It was a descriptive byname for someone red-haired or ruddy. The same root gives the English 'russet' and, through a separate line, the fox's old name Reynard's epithet.
How the name formed
- russus
- rous
- rousel
- Russel
Related forms: Russell · Roussel · Rossello
Pronouncing Russel
RUSS-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Russel and Russell are said identically.
Nicknames for Russel
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1925340 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #282reached in 1913
- Change vs 2022
- +22.7%27 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Russel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Russell in English — spelling variant
- Roussel in French — related form
- Rossello in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Russels among us
people named Russel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 63,262 born in 2025 was named Russel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Russel
- #3949
- Russel on the 2025 chart
- #327
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Russel went to 27 boys in 2025, but Russell is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 971, which makes it the 327th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,622 places above the chart.
- Russell944
- Russel27
About 1 boy in 1,759 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 63,262 for Russel itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Russel sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Russel is headed
Russel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Russel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Russel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and the Norman byname tradition behind it is well documented.
- Russ is a short, plain form available immediately.
- It carries a substantial British aristocratic and intellectual history.
- Russell with two l's is much the commoner spelling and will be assumed.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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Russel
Masculine · #3949 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Russels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,100 people named Russel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Russel?
- Russel is one of 2 recorded spellings. Russell is the more common one — 944 births in 2025 against 27 for Russel.
- How popular is the name Russel in 2025?
- Russel ranks #3949 among US boy names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Russel?
- About 1 in every 63,262 US boys born in 2025 was named Russel — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Russel with classmates?
- Russel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Russel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stewart#3949 · Tillman#3949 · Ashley#3949 · Alfonzo#3949 · Blane#3949 · Brayton#3949 · Omega#3949 · Rufus#3949
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Russel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Russel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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